


Happy Birthday, Allie!

by soldiermom1973



Series: 1,000 years (A Reconciliation Story) [40]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect - Various Authors, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Birthday Party, F/M, Gen, happy birthday Shepard, practical joke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:20:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23595982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soldiermom1973/pseuds/soldiermom1973
Summary: Kaidan and Allie have been together for a year now.  He plans a huge party and his gift is nothing she expected.
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Allie Shepard, Kaidan Alenko/Female Shepard, Normandy Crew & Female Shepard
Series: 1,000 years (A Reconciliation Story) [40]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1460416
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	Happy Birthday, Allie!

**Author's Note:**

> I've been itching to write this for months and with the social-distancing thing, I finally got around to writing it. Problem is, I got it done a few days ago which meant I've re-read it dozens of times, reworked a couple of things, and hopefully caught most of the glaring errors. I hope you like it!

Allie and Kaidan had been back together for about a year. The actual date was something they disagreed on – he said they reunited on her birthday, she said that wasn't until a week or so later, when they had lunch at Apollo's and made it official. She conceded, though, and told Kaidan she'd be ok with using her birthday since it would be easy to remember, just as long as they kept it quiet.

Very few people knew what he had planned for that first anniversary. He figured the fewer people who knew, the less likely it would be that someone would let it slip to Allie, whether intentional or not. As the date drew nearer, his heart would hammer a little harder in his chest when he thought about it. Would she like it? Would she be angry?

He knew, deep down, how things would go. He knew she'd love it, probably be a little frustrated, but she'd wind up crying at the end of it all. He just had to wait until then – worrying about it now wouldn't do any good.

The night of Allie's birthday, her apartment was packed with her friends. Everyone had gotten an invite, and Kaidan made sure it was _everyone_. People who worked with her while she chased the Collectors, her crew from during the war, the few politicians she was friends with, the students she saved from Grissom Academy who'd survived the war. The apartment was filled with a cacophony of reminders about how loved Kaidan's girlfriend was, and how amazing it was that he was the one she'd chosen to give her heart to.

After the party had been running for a few hours, the cake was brought out. Allie gave a small speech about how thankful and surprised she was at the sheer number of people who'd made it out. “I haven't seen some of you in years,” she said, tearing up a little. “I'm not sure what made you come tonight, but it's so nice you're all here.”

She opened her gifts while everyone chowed down on cake and ice cream. She got several new model ships, and laughed, saying she was wondering what she was going to do with all of her free time. New N7 merchandise – a hoodie, a beanie, and even a pair of sneakers. There was a collective whistle when she held up an N7 string bikini and Kaidan grinned and blushed at the same time when she winked at him, asking if he'd help her make sure it fit later.

There were gifts of booze, a couple of cookbooks, gift credits for various merchants on the Presidium. Kaidan didn't envy Traynor the task of keeping track of who got her what so Allie could send thank you notes later.

Finally, it was time for Kaidan's gift. He needed James's help to carry the massive box to the middle of the living room. A murmur rippled through the guests as they tried to guess what it might be. Allie cleared her throat, studied the box, then looked at the man she loved. “What is this?” she asked. “There's no way this is anything I asked for.”

Kaidan grinned, shrugged, and said, “I guess you'll have to open it and find out.”'

Allie laughed and shook her head, carefully tearing into the wrapping paper. She opened the box and found another wrapped box inside. “Seriously?” she asked. There was a playful smirk on her face, so Kaidan knew she was ok so far.

“Seriously,” he replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

As Allie carefully removed the paper encasing the next box, Kaidan situated himself on the floor in front of her. “There's a story behind your gift, you know.”

“Really,” Allie replied, letting out a heavy sigh when that box had yet another wrapped gift inside it. She tried shooting him an angry glare, but couldn't – she knew this was something he obviously spent a lot of time planning and to be honest, she was enjoying it.

“Really really. See, I bought this way back when we were on the SR-1 together.”

“Uh huh,” Allie answered. “And you've held on to it all this time? It somehow survived the war when not much of your other stuff did?” She cleared her throat and pursed her lips at the sight of a fourth wrapped package.

“Believe it or not, yes,” he nodded, crossing his finger over his chest. “Scout's honor.”

“Well, if the King of the Boy Scouts invokes that promise, you know it's true,” Jack laughed from behind him.

Her retort resulting in the rest of the guests laughing and left Kaidan just smirking and shaking his head. “I mean, it wasn't like I didn't try to get rid of it. After... well, after you died, there was no point holding on to it, right? I ran ads, took it to resale shops... but I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of it.”

As he talked, Allie stopped being nice about opening the nesting boxes she'd been presented with. She opened one just enough to see there was yet another wrapped package, then just started tearing into that one. All the while, Kaidan kept talking.

“Then I thought I'd get a chance to give it to you during the war, but we really didn't have any time for parties and, well, you and I weren't on the best of terms. Then after the war, we just kind of drifted apart. Yet in all that time, I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. So, how many boxes are there?” Kaidan adjusted his position and rested his chin in the palm of his hand.

Allie frowned and gave a quick count. “Twelve,” she answered.

“Twelve boxes. One for each year we've known each other,” Kaidan murmured.

Allie's shot him a confused look before turning her attention to the final box. She held it up, knowing it was entirely too small to really have anything in it. She opened it, half-expecting it to be a coupon for the sushi place or some other practical joke. There was a folded piece of paper. When she opened it, she recognized it as one of the questions from when she subbed Kaidan's class - _Did you and Colonel Shepard used to date? Are you together now?_

She frowned and gave Kaidan another confused stare. “Ok, Kaidan, you know April Fool's was ten days ago, right?”

She raised her eyebrow at him and tried again to look angry. No one would have blamed her for being mad, but it was her birthday and she was surrounded by people she loved and cared about. No, she just couldn't be mad at the person she loved more than anything if he was playing a joke on her.

Instead, her eyes narrowed as she studied him. He was sitting cross-legged, his chin still resting in his palm. His pinky was resting against the edge of his nose and on it was...

“Kaidan, what is that ring?” she whispered.

“This? This is your birthday gift,” he answered. He rose to his knees and scooted closer in front of her. When he settled back on his heels, he took the ring off his finger and put it in the palm of his hand. “You know, I remember when I was a kid, I asked my parents how they knew they wanted to marry each other. You know what they said? 'You just know, Kaidan.' They couldn't explain it any better than that. You just _know_.

And that night before Ilos, I _knew_ , Allie. I knew you were the person I was supposed to be with for the rest of my life.”

A tear slipped down Allie's cheek and she could see Kaidan's eyes welling up, too. His voice cracked when he continued, “And when you died, I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. Even after we fell apart. Even all those years we weren't talking. Even when I thought I'd moved on. Part of me still _knew_ we were supposed to be together.”

He rose up to one knee then and took Allie's hand in his own. “Allie Shepard, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

Tears were streaming down Allie's cheeks when she nodded. He slipped the ring on her finger and the room erupted into cheers when they kissed. When they pulled apart, they each brushed the other's cheeks dry.

Then came the pictures – so many pictures of Allie and Kaidan together, of the ring, of Allie hugging her friends. The “Congratulations” were far outnumbered by the “it's about damn time!”s. Talk turned of potential wedding venues and how the galaxy's most renowned designers would clamor for the chance to design her gown.

At some point, Allie and Kaidan got split up. One moment they were holding hands or had their arms wrapped around each other's waists and the next, he noticed she wasn't next to him. He pried himself away from some Alliance general who was droning on about expanding their rebuilding efforts to casually look for her. He didn't ask if anyone had seen her – he figured things were getting overwhelming and she needed to step away.

He found her in the guest room that doubled as her home gym. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, studying the ring, and a soft smile tugged at her mouth. His own smile faded when hers did and the sigh he heard sounded on the sad side. Was she having second thoughts...? He took a deep breath and leaned against the doorway – they each learned the hard way they needed to talk to each other, especially if there was a problem.

“Even back then, I figured you wouldn't want a raised stone,” he said quietly when she brushed her thumb over the smooth surface. He didn't want to jump in with asking what was wrong, knowing she'd brush it off. Instead, he hoped the conversation would guide around to that. “I had the stone inlaid like that so it wouldn't snag on your gloves or anything when you're in your armor. Or, you know, fighting.”

Her tears started flowing again when she spoke. “Kaidan, it's perfect. Just... I mean, it's silver and purple is my favorite color and amethyst is my favorite gemstone and you knew all of that back then. It isn't flashy...”

Her voice trailed off when Kaidan knelt on the floor in front of her. “I'm glad you like it,” he murmured, caressing her cheek.

“I love it,” she sniffed.

Kaidan's eyebrow twitched. “There's a 'but' there. If it doesn't fit, we can get it resized. And if you really don't like it, we can go shopping together and get another one.”

“No, it isn't that. It's just...” Allie sighed and twisted her fingers in her lap. “I just... There's something I have to tell you and it might make you change your mind about all of this..”

Kaidan frowned and took both of her hands in his. “Allie, nothing is going to make me change my mind. I want to marry you. I want to be your husband. I want to tell people you're my wife.”

Allie sighed and shook her head. “I remember on the SR-1, we'd talk about families and I remember how much you wanted kids of your own and Kaidan,” her voice cracked, “I can't give that to you.”

Kaidan squeezed her hands and rested his forehead against hers. His heart was breaking at the thought she believed he wouldn't want her because of this. “Allie,” he started.

“The Lazarus project. When they brought me back, well, Miranda said they weren't worried about my reproductive system. As long as my heart, and my lungs, and the important stuff was working, well, everything else was just whatever.”

Her tears were flowing freely again. “You need to know that. I know having kids was important to you and I can't give you a Kaidan Albert Alenko II.”

“Allie, stop. Listen to me. I would love nothing more than for you to have my children. _Our_ children. But if it doesn't happen, it isn't a deal breaker. Being able to spend the rest of my life with you is what's important to me.”

“Promise?” she whispered.

“Promise.” He leaned back enough to gently grip her chin and tilt her head up to look at him. “Let me put it to you this way. You like pie, right?”

That got a chuckle out of her. “You know I do.”

“And you like pie a la mode, right?”

She shrugged and nodded.

“But you don't have to have the ice cream on your slice of pie to love it, right? Allie, you are my pie. Having kids is the ice cream. I don't have to have the ice cream to love my pie.”

Allie wrapped her arms around him and buried her face against his neck. “You're a dork, you know that?”

“Yeah, but I'm your dork. Besides, the Lazarus project was what? Ten years ago? Maybe things have changed. Maybe your body healed itself some more. Maybe there's something medically we can look into. And we can always consider adoption or a surrogate or whatever, but Allie...”

He pulled away from her and cradled her face in his hands. “As long as I'm with you, I don't care. I mean it.”

“I'm the luckiest woman alive, you know that?”

Kaidan hummed a response. “And I'm the luckiest man.”

He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. It was soft, tender, and on the surface no different than the dozens of other times he kissed her like that. For some reason, though, it felt different. His heart swelled in his chest with so much emotion he thought it might burst. She had the ring, sure, and his verbal promise to spend the rest of their lives together, but it was almost like that wasn't enough.

When he pulled back, Allie chased after him, cradling her hand behind his head and pulling him into another embrace. He tried to put everything he was feeling into that kiss – he pressed harder against her at the memory of her death, pulled back just a bit for the pain of Horizon, cradled her head in his hands when he thought about Mars, then the coup, then stood, pulling her up with him so he could wrap his arms around her when he thought about their sanity check when she told him 'no'.

His hands ran along her back to the soft swell of her rear when he remembered how he asked her to sub for him and that she'd said 'yes'. One hand ran back up her spine and he carded his fingers in her hair at the memory of her last birthday and their first time together in over a decade. When they came up for air, he hoped she could feel just how much he loved her because he knew words couldn't adequately describe the emotions that gripped his heart when he looked at her, when he thought about her...

They stood for a few moments, lost in each other's gaze when they heard several voices call their names, followed by loud speculation about where they were and what they were doing.

“Looks like we've been missed,” Allie whispered. “We should probably head back out there.”

“Yeah,” Kaidan agreed. “So, Mrs. Alenko, what do you say? Shall we mingle with the riff raff?”

He extended his arm and Allie happily looped her hand through the crook of his elbow. “Yes, Mr. Shepard, I believe we shall.”

With that, they newly-betrothed couple returned to the celebration, eager to start the next chapter in their lives together.

**Author's Note:**

> The nesting box thing was something my dad did to my stepmom when they were dating, right down to the ring on his pinky. She was really hurt and upset when the last box was empty, but it was all good when she saw the ring on his finger. And no, that wasn't an engagement ring - my stepmom loves jewelry and my dad loves her, so be buys her things like that just because. They've been together for over 30 years. <3
> 
> The slip of paper is mentioned in [this chapter](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20328241/chapters/48756851#workskin) of the main story. And the discussion about names is in [this short](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21433144).


End file.
